Landing another shot to Cleveland's gut on national television, James powered the Miami Heat to a 118-90 rout Thursday of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Unlike James' one-hour "Decision" special on ESPN that announced his free-agency intentions, this torment lasted more than 2 1/2 hours.

"We came in here with one goal and that's to win a basketball game and we did that," James said. "This was the most complete game we played all year."

For Cavaliers fans who came out booing and exited muted, it was an all-too-stark reminder of what has been lost. James finished with 38 points, eight assists and five rebounds, taking over the game in the third quarter, when he scored 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

"I know this court and I've made a lot of shots on this court and I just wanted to be aggressive," he said.

The 24 points were the most ever by a Heat player in a third quarter and tied Dwyane Wade's franchise record for any quarter.

James then was given the fourth quarter off, which probably was wise for all involved considering that was when a fan was ejected for pouring a drink on a fan wearing a Heat jersey, with numerous other incidents erupting, including some postgame words between Heat guard Eddie House and Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson and a battery that came from the crowd and landed by the Heat bench.

As for the game, James said it was a major step forward.

"We just got to continue to get better," James said. "We know every night we go out it's going to be a hostile environment. It was a good night."

For the Heat, who had played these opening weeks at nearly the same level of mediocrity as the Cavaliers, it was a display of the fortitude that coach Erik Spoelstra insisted had been latent during their 12-8 start to the season.

"As the game went on, you could see we were playing like brothers," Spoelstra said. "These are extreme circumstances that you don't see every day."

In the end, with emotion removed, this ended just about the way it should have.

"It's all right," he said at halftime of the jeers. "I understand how passionate the fans are. I've got a lot of love for these fans. But I'm a Miami Heat player now looking to get this win."

He then made the final 12 minutes irrelevant with his third-quarter dominance.

"I understand it's a business," he said of Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert attempting to rally the fans. "We used the adversity that comes with this game and just tried to build with it."

That was Spoelstra's goal coming in, to make a statement on the road, where the Heat have struggled this season.

But this was about more than James or even the Heat's Big Three. It was James Jones hitting three straight 3-pointers early on the way to 21 points, Joel Anthony hitting the boards in an eight-rebound effort and Mario Chalmers continuing his recent revival.

James came to Cleveland and found himself with a team, something he rarely considered the case during his first seven NBA seasons with the Cavaliers.

After losing four of five and raising questions about everything from the roster to the rotation to the direction from the coaching staff, the Heat have now run off three consecutive lopsided victories.

And now they probably can't wait to come back, with the season's final trip to Cleveland not until March 29.

By then, the Heat's hopes are that the victories will come against competition beyond this week's low-end collection of Wizards, Pistons and Cavaliers.

To Spoelstra, this was a major step forward.

"You only get to really know each other and are tested when you've seen both sides," he said, "and when you're able to respond and move on."

The Heat did just that Thursday, boos and jeers turned to an early rush to the exits.

"I saw guys doing it for each other," Spoelstra said.

Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinderman@SunSentinel.com and can be followed at http://twitter.com/iraheatbeat.